The present invention relates to a system and methods for providing automatic call and data transfer processing and, more particularly, to a system and methods for providing automatic call and data transfer processing according to a pre-programmed procedure based on the identity of a caller or author, the subject matter and content of a call or message and/or the time of day of such call or message.
Generally, in the past, call processing has been manually performed either by a business owner, a secretary or a local central phone service. There are certain conventional devices which partially perform some call processing functions. For example, conventional answering machines and voice-mail services record incoming telephone messages which are then played back by the user of such devices or services. In addition, desktop-telephone software or local PBXs (private branch exchange) provide telephone network switching capabilities. These conventional answering machines, voice-mail services and switching systems, however, are not capable of automatically performing distinct processing procedures that are responsive to the identity of the caller or evaluating the content or subject matter of the call or message and then handling such call or message accordingly. Instead, the user must first answer his or her telephone calls manually, or retrieve such calls from an answering machine or voice-mail, and then decide how to proceed on a call-by-call basis. The present invention eliminates or mitigates such burdensome manual processing.
Moreover, although protected by Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) keying, answering machines and voice-mail services are unable to identify or verify the caller when being remotely accessed or re-programmed by a caller with a valid personal identification number (PIN) which is inputted by DTMF keys. Further, conventional teleconference centers also rely on DTMF PINs for accessibility but are unable to verify and tag the identity of the speaker during a teleconference. Such answering machines, voice-mail and teleconference centers may therefore be breached by unauthorized persons with access to an otherwise valid PIN.